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Friday, April 13, 2012

OMG! TEENARGER DISQUALIFIED FOR RUNNING WITH TAPE OVER EARINGS IN A SCHOLL SPORT

Every society has rules and regulation guiding it. We are guided by these rules in every activity we partake in. Sport is not an exception as there are rules guiding every sport whether one is a pro or amateur. We have seen athletes punished and sanctioned because of flaunting some of the rules of the sport they partake in while some have been banned out rightly for disobeying or doing things that contravene the rules of the sport they partake in.

However, i have never heard that an athlete was disqualified for taping her ears because she pierced them. Lol. This is the full gist.

On April 10,Kansas teenager, Miranda Clark was getting ready to line up for the start of
the 1,600-meter race at the Ellsworth Invitational. The Russell (Kan.)
High student was ready to roll when she noticed that she had earrings
in, a result of a recent ear piercing. Knowing that wearing jewelry in a
race is forbidden in sporting events by the Kansas State High School
Activities Association, Clark knew she couldn't run with her earrings
showing, so she did what most athletes do to make jewelry less
conspicuous: She covered them up with tape.

As it turns out, that decision was the worst she could have made. As
soon as Clark finished the event, a track official
approached her and asked what was under her tape. When she admitted that
the tape was covering an earring, the official promptly judged that she was
exhibiting "unsportsmanlike conduct," a ruling that disqualified the
Russell (Kan.) High runner from the entire meet; Clark was scheduled to
run the 3,200 meters later in the afternoon. Just like that o

Perhaps most infuriating for Clark and her teammates was this bizarre
technicality: If Clark had left her earrings in but not covered them up
with tape she would have only received a warning and not been
disqualified. As such, by trying to do the right thing, the Russell
runner was punished more harshly than if she had openly disobeyed state
regulations.

"The state should be encouraging runners, not making it difficult to
participate," Clark, who finished the 1,600 meters in 10th place, told
Prep Rally. "If KSHAA is insisting on being so picky with what is
allowed to be worn at sporting events, they need to be consistent. I
think it was completely unfair for me to be disqualified and rude to
call me unsportsmanlike. I was definitely not trying to hide my jewelry.
I was just trying to follow regulations the best I could."

Whether one agrees with the punishment that befell Clark or not, it's
hard to argue with the line of logic she espouses: She didn't remove a
piece of jewelry because she was protecting a recent piercing, so she
tried to cover it up to keep from violating well-established state
regulations. Yet instead of applauding her ingenuity, Clark was given a
more harsh punishment for violating a virtually unknown technicality.

That's precisely the case that a member of the extended Clark family
tried to make in an email to KSHSAA assistant executive director Mark
Lentz that was obtained by Prep Rally. In his response to an open query
about Clark's dismissal from the meet, Lentz said that the teen should
only have been disqualified if she had been warned about wearing the
earrings earlier in the event. Lentz stressed the importance of
"preventive refereeing": warning athletes like Clark that they are at
risk of a violation before they actually start an event.

Yet Lentz also failed to address whether the official's decision to
ban Clark was right or wrong, and agreed that it should have been done
on the basis of "unsportsmanlike conduct" because it was related to
jewelry … even though Clark went out of her way to ensure her jewelry
was not showing.

For his part, Clark's father, Marty Clark, who was at the meet, said
that he was most frustrated with a lack of consistency on what parts of
contemporary uniforms the KHSAA deems to be inappropriate and
unsportsmanlike.

While acknowledging the fact that "Miranda was wrong for having the jewelry in her ear and she knows
that, Mary feel that to be disqualified from competition because they
are putting tape on it is a little extreme.

According to him the competition is just high school
sports, which should be promoting and encouraging young people to
compete and be active, not discouraging them.